September 19, 2007

Housing

In cities here in Greece, people live over each other and not spread out. The majority of people live in rather small apartments and it is not likely that you would find wall to wall carpeting in any home. Instead, you will find area carpets used during the winter months. Tile floors are the norm throughout a Greek home, with wooden floors in the bedrooms. Stairs are very popular in home buildings and are usually made of Marble (Greece is rich in marble). Having small homes, which, even if they are not ancient, seem to be in constant need of some sort of enhancement. The drive to make more and more space out of tiny living areas is a national mania and that doesn’t stop inside the house. Gardening is also an obsession for Greeks, who have raised the practice of creating small gardens on their balconys that are usually not even large enough to place a table and chairs on.

In Greece, people don’t bother much with exteriors; there isn’t much exterior to a Greek home. The entire property, yard (if any) and all, is most often enclosed behind a tall brick wall that presents a blank face to the public street. The street may be dirty and rutted, but inside, there is a tidy little courtyard planted with flowers and plants. It makes no sense to most Greeks to toil away attempting to make a little bit of the outside world pleasant and clean. It’s an uphill battle for one thing, and for another, it’s the inside that matters.